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Souza, L. D. O.

Publications and source records attributed to Souza, L. D. O..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Antimicrobial and Cytotoxic Lysolipins I-M Isolated from Streptomyces sp. P8-2B18

Lysolipin I (1) is a highly bioactive xanthone with strong antibacterial and cytotoxic properties. Given the limited number of lysolipin analogues, discovery of new natural lysolipin derivatives is important for understanding their structure-activity relationships. A soil-derived Streptomyces sp. P8-2B18 harbors a putative lysolipin biosynthetic gene cluster and LC-MS based metabolomic analysis revealed the production of lysolipin I along with unreported analogues. Large-scale fermentation followed by isolation led to the discovery of four new analogues, lysolipins J-M (2- 5), the structures of which were elucidated by mass spectrometric and NMR spectroscopic data analyses. Lysolipin L features a five-membered lactam F ring, which was unprecedented in reported lysolipins. Lysolipin M has a novel skeleton, with an extra methyl (Me-36) and a glycosyl group replacing a 1,3-oxane ring in lysolipin I. While lysolipins I, J and K displayed strong activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Aspergillus flavus with MIC values ranging from 0.25 to 4 g/mL and lysolipin L showed only moderate activities, lysolipin M was inactive (>50 g/mL). Lysolipins I-K showed potent cytotoxic activity against prostate cancer cell lines LNCaP and C4-2B, with IC50 values in the submicromolar range. In contrast, lysolipin L exhibited no cytotoxicity and lysolipin M exhibited substantially reduced potency. Their broad, non-selective bioactivities restricted their applicability as therapeutic agents.

microbiology↗

Discovery and Biosynthesis of Nyuzenamides D and E by Genome Mining in Streptomyces hygroscopicus

Nyuzenamides belong to the class of bioactive cinnamoyl moiety containing non-ribosomal peptides (NRPs). However, their biosynthetic gene cluster (BGC) remains unconfirmed. Genome-mining revealed a putative nyu BGC in Streptomyces hygroscopicus DSM 40578. Nyuzenamides D (1) and E (2) were subsequently isolated, and the structures were elucidated by detailed NMR spectroscopic and MS spectrometric data analyses. The absolute configuration of 1 was determined by a single-crystal X-ray diffraction study. Through retro-biosynthesis and CRISPR-genome editing, the non-ribosomal peptide synthetase biosynthetic gene cluster for nyuzenamides was confirmed. Our discovery enriches the diversity of cinnamoyl-containing nonribosomal peptides and validates the biosynthetic gene clusters for future genome-mining research.

microbiology↗

Maramycin, a cytotoxic isoquinolinequinone terpenoid produced through heterologous expression of a bifunctional indole prenyltransferase /tryptophan indole-lyase in S. albidoflavus

Isoquinolinequinones represent an important family of natural alkaloids with profound biological activities. Heterologous expression of a rare bifunctional indole prenyltransferase /tryptophan indole-lyase enzyme from Streptomyces mirabilis P8-A2 in S. albidoflavus J1074 led to the activation of a putative isoquinolinequinone biosynthetic gene cluster and production of a novel isoquinolinequinone alkaloid, named maramycin (1). The structure of maramycin was determined by analysis of spectroscopic (1D/2D NMR) and MS spectrometric data. The prevalence of this bifunctional biosynthetic enzyme was explored and found to be a recent evolutionary event with only a few representatives in Nature. Maramycin exhibited moderate cytotoxicity against human prostate cancer cell lines, LNCaP and C4-2B. The discovery of maramycin (1) enriched the chemical diversity of natural isoquinolinequinones and also provided new insights into crosstalk between the host biosynthetic genes and the heterologous biosynthetic genes in generating new chemical scaffolds.

bioengineering↗